The Great Plague. The Story of London\'s Most Deadly Year

208 • The Abyss

The continuous visitation with no interruption and far greater mortality in
the second year than the first put a burden on the townspeople’s material and

emotional resources beyond anything Londoners experienced. The cloth-
making industry, more central to Colchester’s economy than in Cripplegate,
experienced total collapse. The town suffered as nearly total an economic
shutdown as occurred anywhere in England, except perhaps for Braintree

and Bocking, which had virtually no middle-class tax base. The twenty-
seven hundred pounds Colchester spent on relief for its poor almost doubled
the sum that London’s Saint Margaret Westminster paid out to keep its
densely packed population in food, clothing, and medicaments during its

plague ordeal.^23
One isolated country parish suffered an even higher fatality rate. Eyam,
nestled in a remote valley in northern Derbyshire, all but disappeared. The
vicar, Reverend Mompesson, persuaded his flock to remain rather than flee

and infect the countryside. This spared the surrounding area, while in the
village 76 families were visited and 259 lives lost. Among the deceased was
Mompesson’s wife. When the plague siege that had begun in September 1665
finally ended in October 1666 , he said in relief: “Now, blessed be to God, all

our fears are over.” The village lost between 50 percent and 80 percent of its
residents, depending on how one interprets the evidence.^24

The King’s Service

I know none amongst our court greate-ones who do naturally care for our state.

For all seek theire owne.

—John Evelynto Lord Corniberry, September 9 , 1665

The Destroying Angel was no respecter of persons; not even the sacred mon-

arch could be sure of fending off her arrows. The royal escape route up the
Thames River, Dr. Hodges affirmed, was a conduit for “tainted goods,” and
the royal court’s hurried departure to the interior from the water’s edge at
Hampton Court had its own risks. The duke and duchess of York traveled

northward to maintain order with their presence and an armed guard amid
rumors of uprisings against church and state. The king headed southward,
eager for the pleasure of inspecting the shipyard at Portsmouth and sailing in
the Channel. On the first of August, he entered Salisbury with pomp and

ceremony. His wife, mistress, ministers, and court followed at a more lei-